The importance of Indigenous Peoples’ lands for the conservation of terrestrial mammals

Abstract

Indigenous Peoples' lands cover over one-quarter of Earth's surface, a significant proportion of which is still free from industrial-level human impacts. As a result, Indigenous Peoples and their lands are crucial for the long-term persistence of Earth's biodiversity and ecosystem services. Yet, information on species composition on these lands globally remains largely unknown. We conducted the first comprehensive analysis of terrestrial mammal composition across mapped Indigenous lands based on data on area of habitat (AOH) for 4460 mammal species assessed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. We overlaid each species' AOH on a current map of Indigenous lands and found that 2695 species (60% of assessed mammals) had ≥10% of their ranges on Indigenous Peoples' lands and 1009 species (23%) had >50% of their ranges on these lands. For threatened species, 473 (47%) occurred on Indigenous lands with 26% having >50% of their habitat on these lands. We also found that 935 mammal species (131 categorized as threatened) had ≥ 10% of their range on Indigenous Peoples' lands that had low human pressure. Our results show how important Indigenous Peoples' lands are to the successful implementation of conservation and sustainable development agendas worldwide.

People have shaped most of terrestrial nature for at least 12,000 years

“…S6 ), indicating that distinct regional legacies of past land use are associated with distinct patterns of biodiversity and global conservation priorities. In many cases, this may represent the novel biodiversity patterns of cultural landscapes sustained for millennia and later depopulated or abandoned ( 60 , 61 ).…”

“…Human societies have been shaping and sustaining diverse cultural natures across most of the terrestrial biosphere for more than 12,000 y. Areas under Indigenous management today are recognized as some of the most biodiverse areas remaining on the planet ( 51 , 61 ), and landscapes under traditional low-intensity use are generally much more biodiverse than those governed by high-intensity agricultural and industrial economies ( 62 , 63 ). Although some societies practicing low-intensity land use contributed to extinctions in the past, the cultural shaping and use of ecosystems and landscapes is not, in itself, the primary cause of the current extinction crisis, and neither is the conversion of untouched wildlands, which were nearly as rare 10,000 y ago as they are today.…”

Limiting the loss of terrestrial ecosystems to safeguard nature for biodiversity and humanity

“…Well-managed protected areas are long-standing mechanisms for securing ecosystems (Maxwell et al 2020), which can be complemented by newer approaches such as other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs) (Dudley et al 2018), including privately held land (Clements et al 2018). The stewardship of Indigenous people and other local communities with connection to the land and knowledge of its management, will be necessary for the preservation of large swathes of natural and semi-natural areas, where such retention is aligned with the aspirations of Indigenous custodians (Garnett et al 2018; O’Bryan et al 2020). Security of tenure and access is an essential enabling condition for this stewardship to be equitable and undertaken in a manner that is consistent with local peoples’ aspirations.…”

Eine Gesundheit

“…Er bezieht alle relevanten Sektoren, Fachkenntnisse, Perspektiven und Erfahrungen ein und vernetzt nationale Gruppen, sodass koordinierte internationale Reaktionen auf globale Bedrohungen möglich werden. Einige heben hervor, dass zu diesem Wissen auch die Erfahrungen indigener Völker mit dem von ihnen bewohnten Land (immerhin etwa ein Viertel der Erde) und der von ihnen oft betriebenen schonenden, konservierenden Nutzung gehören [27,31]. Schon im Jahr 2018 erschien eine von Wissenschaftlern der University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri sowie der der Fontbonne University in St. Louis, Missouri, herausgegebene Einführung in One Health (▶Abb.…”